Key facts
- Two men deported from the US to Equatorial Guinea were allegedly beaten and held incommunicado.
- Ahmed Soliman, an Egyptian deportee, was reportedly arrested on September 11 after filming guards pointing guns at migrants.
- Soliman and Samson Birhane, an Eritrean deportee, were allegedly beaten for speaking to the press about conditions at the Hotel Bamy detention center.
- Lawyers report that Soliman has been held incommunicado for a week.
- US deportees at the Hotel Bamy fear retaliation and have had their phones confiscated.
- The US has sent at least 66 people to Equatorial Guinea under a deportation cooperation agreement.
Two men deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea have been subjected to severe mistreatment, including being bound, blindfolded, beaten, and pushed down stairs, according to witnesses and human rights lawyers. The men, identified as 31-year-old Egyptian Ahmed Soliman and 47-year-old Eritrean Samson Birhane, were allegedly targeted for speaking out about the conditions and violence at the Hotel Bamy, a detention center for US deportees.
Soliman was reportedly arrested on September 11 after filming guards pointing guns at other deportees. Lawyers state that Soliman has been held incommunicado for a week following his arrest, and both men have since been transferred to a prison in Malabo. Witnesses report that authorities were searching for phones and shouted questions about their whereabouts during the beatings.
Approximately 30 other deportees remain at the Hotel Bamy, where they have reported inadequate medical care, fear of retaliation, and confiscation of their mobile phones. Human rights advocates have warned for months about the dangerous conditions at the facility. The US has sent at least 66 individuals to Equatorial Guinea as part of a program to deport immigrants who cannot be sent to their home countries due to fears of persecution.
Lawyers representing the deportees have alerted the US embassy in Equatorial Guinea to the threats and violence but have not received a response. In May, UN human rights experts issued an appeal for Equatorial Guinea to halt deportations that could lead to refoulement, the expulsion of individuals to countries where they face persecution. The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment, and a State Department spokesperson stated the government uses all legal means to remove those without a right to remain in the US, without commenting on specific treatment.